A lawyer representing the three police officers who shot a young black man in 2004 tried yesterday to shift the focus of an ongoing coroner's inquest from his clients to a psychiatrist.

A lawyer representing the three police officers who shot a young black man in 2004 tried yesterday to shift the focus of an ongoing coroner's inquest from his clients to a psychiatrist.

Gary Clewley repeatedly asked Dr. David Ng, a psychiatrist at Scarborough's Grace Hospital who had diagnosed O'Brien Christopher-Reid with paranoid delusional disorder, why the 26-year-old man was allowed to discharge himself from the hospital twice, after undergoing psychiatric assessments.

"Unless he has demonstrated risk of harming himself or others, we can't keep him against his will," replied Ng, while being cross-examined.

But Clewley persisted.

"He's got a major medical illness and he refuses to take medication.

"That can't be a good thing."

Ng replied that it is rare for people with paranoid delusional disorder to act violently, despite what many in the general public may think.

On June 13, 2004, Christopher-Reid was confronted by police officers at Edwards Gardens, near Lawrence Ave. E. and Leslie St., where he had been seen carrying a knife.

Three officers approached Christopher-Reid near a bridge, according to a report by the province's Special Investigations Unit.

He then moved toward the officers, who raised their guns and ordered Christopher-Reid to drop the knife, the report states.

He refused, continued to approach them, and all three fired at close range, less than 3 metres.

The victim's mother, Jacqueline Christopher, told the inquest on Monday that her son, a 26-year-old black man, would not have been killed if he were white.

She was echoing the same sentiment many in Toronto's black community had voiced in 2004.

It's an issue Clewley has tried to avoid during the inquest.

On Monday, he objected to a question directed at the victim's father, about his perception of the police, on the grounds that the lawyer representing the mother was "trying to turn this into some type of soapbox or discourse on race relations."

And yesterday, when Ng suggested that a tactic of de-escalation or an attempt to calm the psychologically troubled victim could have saved his life, friends and family in attendance could be heard saying, "Thank you."

To which Clewley, who was still cross-examining the witness, responded, "Do not mind the peanut gallery."

During afternoon testimony a witness present at the park just before the shooting recounted what he saw and heard.

"We were walking south from Edwards Gardens and I had gone over to one of the bridges and we had paused," recalled Thomas Rahilly, a retired investment banker who was at the park with his wife.

He said they then noticed Christopher-Reid crouched next to the creek running under the bridge. "We didn't pay a lot of attention to him.

"Shortly after three police officers arrived on the far side of the bridge.

"We were on his (the victim's) left," he said, about 4.5 metres away from the man.

Rahilly testified that the officers had their guns out and drawn toward the victim from across the bridge when he first saw them arrive on the scene.

Then, said Rahilly, Christopher-Reid took out a large knife from his pants and held it at his waist, horizontally and very still.

"He didn't make any attempt to move forward.

"They (the officers) certainly were not set upon."

Rahilly said the victim did not seem aware of the situation.

"He seemed a bit distant from what was happening.

"I didn't think he was quite himself."

After his wife ran around a corner into some trees, Rahilly said he followed and could no longer see what was unfolding.

But shortly after, he heard the police yell loudly, "Drop the knife" three times, followed immediately by about five gunshots and then, "Drop the knife" once more right after the gunshots stopped.

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